Jul. 15, 2014
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Dwyane Wade will remain with the Miami Heat. / Tony Gutierrez AP

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

Free-agent guard Dwyane Wade will return to the Miami Heat, a person familiar with the deal told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday.

The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly after the deal became official.

On Tuesday, Wade posted a photo of himself in a Heat warmup suit during the national anthem and wrote "Home is where the heart is. My Home, My City, My House. .. #HeatLifer."

There wasn't much doubt Wade would return even though his friend LeBron James decided to leave Miami for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In a statement released on Saturday, Wade said, "LeBron made the right decision for himself and his family because home is where your heart is. I know this was not an easy decision to make and I support him in returning to his roots."

Wade did the same, choosing to stay in his adopted hometown and with the Heat â?? who have won three titles and played in five NBA Finals with Wade.

Losing James was devastating for Miami, but it could have been far worse. Heat president Pat Riley got to work on upgrading the team's roster in a matter of days. Miami retained forward Chris Bosh, reached a deal with free-agent forward Luol Deng and forwards signed Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger to contracts. The Heat also plan to re-sign guard Mario Chalmers and forward-center Chris Andersen.

"Dwyane has been the franchise cornerstone for this team since the day he arrived 11 years ago," Riley said. "He has shown his commitment to the Heat many times over the course of his career and has always been willing to sacrifice in order to help build this team into a champion. This time is no different. I am ecstatic to have him back in the fold and I am confident that Dwyane, as always, will be leading this team as we look to contend for NBA Championships."

The Heat are still a playoff team and could even be one of the top four teams in the East, which is getting better and deeper by the day.

Because of some nagging knee issues, Wade missed 28 regular season games last year, but still averaged 19 points, 4.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and shot a career-best 54.5 percent from the field. In 10 years with the Heat, he has averaged 24.3 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 1.76 steals, 49.2 percent from the field in and 36.6 minutes.

He is the Heat's all-time leader in points (17,481), field goals made (6,276), free throws made (4,579), double-figure scoring efforts (691), assists (4,301), steals (1,262), starts, games played and minutes played (26,331).